Kenneth Rijock

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Next Tuesday, November 12, the wife of convicted Ponzi schemer, Scott Rothstein, Kimberly Rothstein, will be sentenced in US District Court in Fort Lauderdale. Her sentencing had been postposed several times, at her request, to allow her the opportunity to testify against the jewelers who assisted her in hiding, and selling, jewelry that had been purchased for her by Mr. Rothstein, with the proceeds of his Ponzi scheme, and the numerous delays, due to delays in the other trial, appeared to have irritated the Court, for it recently gave her what was described as a final rescheduling of her sentencing.

The individuals against whom she was to testify eventually entered a plea of guilty, and the potential availability of a witness often causes a defendant to plead out at the eleventh hour. Such assistance, though it never involves actual testimony, is often credited as such, in favor of a cooperating witness.

The US Attorney has now filed its Government's Motion for Downward Departure from the Defendant's Advisory Guidelines Sentence, and in that filing stated:" The Defendant has provided Substantial Assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense." The United States Sentencing Guidelines, 5K1.1, authorizes a downward departure for Substantial Assistance.

Though the Court has previously pointed out that the nature of Mrs. Rothstein's offenses meant that she was not going to avoid prison time through her cooperation, she will most likely receive a short sentence, as the result of the US Attorney's motion.